Australia joins elite missile club with Tomahawk launch
The Australian Navy has announced the first launch of the RGM-109 Tomahawk TLAM cruise missile. Australia becomes the third country globally to possess this advanced weapon. What capabilities do they bring?
For a long time, the United States armed forces and the British Royal Navy were the sole operators of Tomahawk missiles. At the end of the 20th century, Washington permitted a close ally to equip its Astute-class nuclear submarines with Tomahawks.
Australia has now joined this exclusive group of operators. On December 9, 2024, the Australian Navy declared the first launch of a Tomahawk—the missile was launched from the Hobart-class destroyer HMAS Brisbane (DDG 41) and successfully hit a container-sized target on an American missile range.
This announcement is more than just another report on a successful weapon test. With the RGM-109 Tomahawk missiles, Australia—along with the United Kingdom and the United States, forming a global AUKUS alliance—has gained exceptional capabilities.
Thanks to the new missiles, the navy can now strike with impressive precision targets located approximately 1,500-2,000 kilometres away (the exact range of the current version of the missile is not publicly disclosed).
Tomahawk – a superweapon of the end of the Cold War
The Tomahawk missile is a unique weapon. Although it wasn't the first cruise missile, it was the first to provide a combination of long range and high accuracy. This was particularly impressive, as the missile was designed in the 1970s as an alternative to ballistic missiles, whose accuracy at the time was measured—in the best case scenario—in hundreds of metres.
Since the SALT disarmament treaty capped the number of ballistic missile carriers, the Pentagon sought to bypass these limitations. The solution was to develop a weapon with different attributes, not constrained by the treaty's provisions, yet capable of delivering a nuclear warhead over a vast distance—a long-range cruise missile.
Introduced in 1983, the Tomahawk proved to be a versatile weapon. In the 1980s, an entire family of these missiles emerged—with nuclear warheads (TLAM-N), conventional warheads (TLAM-C), and cluster warheads (TLAM-D), launched from land (BGM-109), sea (RGM-109), underwater (UGM-109), and air (AGM-109, although this variant did not enter service).
A missile that "sees" its surroundings
Distinguished not only by its range—then reaching hundreds of kilometres—but also by its ability to fly while considering the terrain profile, the missile's navigation system was so precise that the Tomahawk could fly at an altitude of just a few dozen metres, making it challenging to detect and destroy.
This was achieved as, in addition to inertial and satellite navigation, the Tomahawk used TERCOM navigation and—from the Block II variant—DSMAC. With TERCOM navigation, the missile determined its position by scanning the terrain height it flew over and comparing these results with its own map.
DSMAC navigation improved this by adding image recognition to the height scanning, allowing the missile to compare the view through its camera with satellite-obtained images.
As a result, Tomahawks could navigate precisely, flying so low that—despite the absence of stealth features—they were difficult to destroy, and their precision in the final stage was further enhanced by satellite navigation or their own active radar (in the anti-ship TASM version).
The renaissance of Tomahawks
The end of the Cold War and international easing led to a reduction in the Tomahawk arsenal. The extensive family of missiles was eventually limited to the sea-launched version, fired from naval and submarine platforms, armed with a conventional warhead—the RGM/UGM-109 TLAM missiles remained active.
As it turned out, this limitation was short-sighted—currently, the Pentagon is revisiting the land-based version of the Tomahawk, testing, among others, the land-based Typhon launcher or the Marine Corps' unmanned ROGUE Fires system, which in the NMESIS version is set to launch Tomahawks. Furthermore, although nearly half a century old, the missile continues to be developed.
The current Tomahawk variant—Block V—features improved range, a more penetrative warhead, and an enhanced guidance system with infrared sensors and passive electromagnetic emission sensors. There is also ongoing work to bolster the missile's stealth capabilities and its new propulsion system.
Washington is increasingly receptive to allies' requests for such a powerful weapon. Years ago, even its export to Israel was blocked, but now—besides the AUKUS countries—efforts to acquire Tomahawks have succeeded in the cases of Japan and the Netherlands.
These missiles are also planned for future sale to Canada, which aims to equip its 15 River-class destroyers with Tomahawks. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025.
